Boxcar inner door opener



April 23, 1968 w. E. ERICKSON 3,379,032

' BOXCAR INNER DOOR OPENER Filed Jan. 10, 1966 S Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORWILLARD E. ERICKSON A ril 23, 1968 w. E. ERlCKS ON BOXCAR INNER DOOROPENER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 10, 1966 INVENTOR WILLARD E. ERICKSONFIGS April 1968 w. E. ERICKSON 3,379,082

BOXCAR INNER DOOR OPENER Filed Jan. 10, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORHG] Wl LLARD E. ERICKSON United States Patent 3,379,082 BOXCAR INNERDOOR OPENER Willard E. Erickson, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Link-BeltCompany, a corporation of Illinois Filed Jan. 10, 1966, Ser. No. 519,5015 Claims. (Cl. 83-564) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A boxcar inner dooropener for removing inner doors constructed of either wood or paperreinforced by a series of metal straps, the opener employing aretractable cutter bar mounted on one end of the inner door engagingportion of the opener and moveable between an operative cutting positionfor removing a paper door to an inoperative position permitting theopener to remove a wooden door without any interference from the cutterbar.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in railroad boxcarinner door openers. More particularly it is directed to such an openerwhich is fully suited for opening either wooden or paper inner car doorsincident the removal of a free fiowing material such as grain, from therailroad car.

Railroad boxcars used for shipping grain or other similarly free flowingmaterials in bulk are generally provided with inner doors to preventleakage of material from the cars during loading and in transit.Frequently these doors comprise a number of abutting wooden planks orboards extending between the car door posts and either nailed to theposts or held in place by other means. Also, these inner doors have beenmade of up several layers of heavy paper reinforced with steel strapsnailed to the door posts and spanning the door opening, with a woodenboard at the top and one board at the bottom of the door.

The grain or other material unloading operation, of course, necessitatesremoval of his inner door from the car door opening prior to dischargingthe grain or material. Not infrequently trains of boxcars to be unloadedwill have both wooden and paper type inner doors to be removedintermixed along the length of the train of cars.

Heretofore, various types of devices have been developed for removingthe inner doors by mechanical means. Most of these mechanical dooropeners have been designed to remove the older type wood doors withoutbreaking them or damaging the boxcar door frame. However, in recentyears the paper type inner door has bcome increasingly popular.

These paper doors can be removed by the same mechanical door opener thatis used for wood doors provided they are equipped with cutter means tocause the steel reinforcing straps to break at a predetermined location.If the paper doors are removed or pushed out of the way without the useof cutter means, the straps may break at random, leaving long jaggedstrips on both sides of the door opening or the strips may tear the wooddoor frame out of the boxcar opening, thus creating a safety hazard topersonnel besides adding time and cost in having to recooper the boxcar.

The mechanical door openers for wooden doors conventionally have studsor spikes which penetrate the wooden door planking and thus carry thedoor inwardly freeing the door planks from the door frame and raisingthe door intact up above the grain level. When cutter means for paperdoors are mounted in fixed position on such a door opener, it mustprotrude beyond the spikes that are intended to impale wood doors ifsuch cutter means is to properly score and break the steel straps beforetension in them builds up to the point where the door frame is damaged.Moreover, this cuttter means 3,379,082 Patented Apr. 23, 1968 when fixedto the door opener can damage wooden doors incident their removal andadd undesirable racking or twisting loads to the door opener by reasonof the cutter means projecting beyond the regular spikes causingconcentrated loads on the wooden grain door and the door opener.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a boxcar innerdoor opener equally well suited for removing either reinforced paper orwood plank inner boxcar doors.

A further object of the invention is to provide such an opener with asimple rugged design which will enable the operator to instantly selecteither of two modes of operation, one for removing reinforced paperdoors and one for removing wood plank doors.

Other more specific objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent from the following description of a specific embodiment of theinvention.

Generally, the invention comprises means for removing inner doors onboxcars filled with grain or other free flowing material includingrectangular plate means and retractable cutting means operable inremoving reinforced paper doors, said rectangular plate means havingholding means thereon to hold the grain door incident its removal fromthe boxcar door frame, said retractable cutting means comprising acutting blade located on one side of and extending substantially thefull length of said rectangular plate means, and retracting means formoving said retractable cutting means from a cutting position to aninoperative position whereby when said cutting means is in saidinoperative position said plate means is operable to remove wood plankinner boxcar doors.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and inwhich like reference characters are employed to designate like partsthroughout the same.

FIGURE 1 is a side view of the door opener mechanism of the instantinvention shown in association with a boxcar in section;

FIGURE 2 is a view taken along line 2-2 of FIGURE 1, with part of areinforced paper boxcar door removed to show its construction;

FIGURE 3 is a view taken along line 3-3 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the frame and cutter bar of thepresent invention partially in section;

FIGURE 5 is a top plan view taken on line 5-5 of FIGURE 4 showing thecutter bar about to score a reinforced paper boxcar door;

FIGURE 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIGURE4;

FIGURE 7 is a detailed sectional view taken on line 7-7 of FIGURE 6,showing the connection between the driving means and the cutter barshaft;

FIGURE 8 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 8-8 of FIGURE 4with the cutter bar in operative position; and

FIGURE 9 is a view similar to FIGURE 8 except that the cutter bar isshown in its inoperative position.

In the drawings, wherein for the purposes of illustration a preferredembodiment of the invention is shown, and first particularly referringto FIGURE 1, a boxcar I loaded with grain or other particulate material2 is illustrated spotted on the track section of a boxcar unloader 3 ofstandard design.

The boxcar 1 has inner doors 4 which are disposed on each side of theboxcar. These are mounted inwardly of the conventional outer slidingdoors. conventionally such sliding doors are provided on the boxcar toclose the door openings located midway of the car length on each carside wall. The inner doors 4 as illuustrated, are made up of reinforcedpaper, although they may be made of wood boards as mentionedhereinbefore. They are necessary where free flowing material such asgrain is being loaded and thereafter transported to prevent the materialfrom seeping out of the boxcar. The conventional steel outer slidingdoors of the boxcar characteristically are not so closely fitted to theboxcar door opening as to seal against seepage of grain or other freeflowing particulate material from the boxcar. Thus, these inner doors 4are designed to be impervious to leakage of material and are generallysecurely fastened to the wooden door frame of the boxcar to insureagainst the material leaking out during loadin g and shipment.

The boxcar unloader 3 may be of any standard design wherein the boxcarto be unloaded is clamped on the track section of the unloader, theappropriate outer sliding door is opened, the corresponding inner woodplank or reinforced paper inner door removed and the boxcar unloaded bytilting, vibrating or other movement of the boxcar carried out by theunloader operation. Boxcar unloading equipment suitable for unloader 3is of a conventional type and as such equipment is known as to itsconstruction and operation, detailed illustration or explanation thereofshould not be necessary herein.

The door opener 5 of the instant invention comprises a rectangular plate6 pivotally connected to the upper end of an arm 7 which arm in turn ispivotally connected at its lower end to a stationary pivot 8. The arm 7is driven by a ram type fluid pressure motor 9 through a linkagemechanism It). A cable 11 connected to plate 6 controls the attitude ofthe plate 6 relative to arm 7 in removing the inner door from the boxcardoor opening.

The operation of arm 7 and control of its movement and the attitude ofplate 6 with respect to the arm incident opening of a boxcar door areknown from prior boxcar door openers as heretofore produuced byLink-Belt Company, Chicago, Ill. Also the features of the instantinvention as described in detail hereinafter may be incorporated intothe hydraulically actuated grain car door opener disclosed in Ericksonet al. Patent 2,927,770, issued Mar. 6, 1960.

As best seen in FIGURES 3-8, the rectangular plate 6 comprises a rigidframe 12 covered by sheet metal. Carried on the face of plate 6 are aseries of spikes 13 whose purpose is to hold the inner boxcar door inplace on the rectangular plate 6 while it is being removed from theboxcar door opening. Plate 6 is narrow enough to fit between door frameposts 14 (FIGURE 2) of a standard railroad boxcar door opening.

Situated on one side of the rectangular plate 6 is a retractable cutterbar 15. The cutter bar is rotatably mounted to extend between an upperhousing 16 and a lower housing 25. These housings are welded orotherwise secured to the frame 12 to support the retractable cuttermeans of the instant invention.

The cutter bar further provides a cutter blade 18. Blade 18 is fixed tothe shaft of cutter bar offset from the rotation axis of the shaft asshown in FIGURES 5, 6, 8 and 9. Accordingly, when the cutter bar is inoperable position as shown in FIGURES 5 and 8, the force exerted whenthe rectangular plate is urged against the boxcar door to be removedwill act to hold the cutter bar in this operable position resistingrotation of the cutter bar to the inoperable position shown in FIGURE 9.A stop 17 is welded to the edge of plate 6 to limit rotation of thecutter bar, retaining it in the position of FIGURE 8 with blade 18projecting outwardly perpendicular to the plane of plate 6 in readinessto score and cut the metal reinforcing bands of a reinforced paperboxcar door incident its removal from the boxcar door opening.

At the top of the cutter bar is driving element 19 which may be ahydraulic, electric, or air driven motor, as appropriate to rotate thecutter bar through an are from operative to inoperative position as willbe explained. The cutter bar 15 is keyed onto the driving shaft 22 ofthe driving element 19, as is shown in FIGURE 7.

The connection between the cutter bar 15 and the driving shaft 22 may bea standard keyway 23 in shaft 22 combined with a groove in a collar 20welded to the upper end of cutter bar 15. A key 24 connects the shaft 22and collar 20. A set screw 21 holds the key 24 in place extendingthrough the collar 20 and the upper end of cutter bar 15. Of course, anyother rigid connection between driving shaft 22 and cutter bar 15 wouldbe satisfactory. Also, if desired a manually operated mechanism may beused in place of driving element 19 to shift cutter bar 15 betweenoperative and inoperative position.

The bottom of the retractable cutter bar 15 is connected to frame 12 bythe U-shaped housing 25, by being mounted rotatably on the housing witha thrust washer 26 beneath the lower end of the cutter bar and a pivotpin 27 extending downwardly through a bore in housing 25. The bottom ofrectangular plate 6 carries a pair of pivotally mounted feet 37 whichrest on the boxcar floor 38 and position the plate 6 relative to theboxcar door opening.

FIGURE 2 shows a typical reinforced paper inner boxcar door viewed frominside the boxcar. This door comprises a multi-layer paper cover 33reinforced by a series of metal bands or straps 34 passing between thelayers of paper. These bands 34 are attached to the door frame posts 14by nailing as shown at 32 on FIGURE 5. Across the top of the openingthere is nailed a head board 35 to reinforce the top of the grain door.Across the bottom of the opening a foot board 36 is nailed to reinforcethe bottom. FIGURE 2 also shows by dotted line 40 the general positionat which the cutter bar 15 will engage the reinforced paper door inopening it.

When the door opener 5 is to be used with reinforced paper boxcar doors,the cutter bar 15 is rotated by drive motor 19 into an operativeposition with blade 18 extending perpendicular to the face of plate 6 asis shown in FIGURE 8. The precise location of the cutter bar in theoperative position is fixed by stop means 17. As the door opener movesplate 6 toward the grain door 4 by the operation of fluid pressure motor9, the cutter bar 15 meets the inner door 4 along the line 40 as seen inFIG- URE 2.

Upon further movement inwardly, the cutter bar 15 will scar and breakthe steel straps 34 along one side of the door opening before tension insuch straps builds up to the point where the door frame posts aredamaged. The cutter bar will cut the door along the line 40 thusinsuring a clean break of the straps 34 and preventing the shredding andtearing of the paper closure means. As previously noted, the eccentricmounting of blade 18 on the shaft of the cutter bar 15 functions to tendto lock the cutter bar against the stops 17 as the reinforced paper dooris opened. Upon cutting the grain door from one side of the door frameposts 14 the paper door will initially pivot inwardly about the oppositeside of the frame posts and the grain or other material will, of course,empty from the boxcar. As the material empties out the paper door maypivot outwardly but it is still held on the door frame posts at one sideand does not pass into the material hopper to the side and below theboxcar door. With the door opened, the unloader 3 may through itsoperation on the boxcar complete unloading of the material.

It may be pointed out that provision of a retractable cutter bar 15along only one side of the door opener plate 6 is advantageous in thatall of the straps 34 will be cut in a. relatively straight line at oneside of the reinforced paper door leaving the paper to cover any jaggedstrap edges. Also with the straps and paper still attached to theopposite side of the boxcar door frame it is held against passing alongwith the material into the receiving hopper as the material flows fromthe boxcar. The paper door conveniently pivots out of the way of theflowing material and can be removed from the door frame post 14 to whichit remains attached after the boxcar has been emptied.

When the door opener is to be used for opening wood plank doors, thecutter bar 15 is rotated by the driving motor 19 until the cutter bar 15is in the inoperable position as shown in FIGURE 9. In this position,the cutter bar blade 18 does not protrude beyond the spikes 13 on theface of plate 6 and the spikes 13 will be operable to impale the woodenplanks and hold them in position incident to their removal from the doorframe posts 14 by the action of fluid pressure motor 9 moving therectangular plate 6 against the inner door.

It is to be understood that the form of this invention herewith shownand described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, andthat various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may beresorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is: 1. In combination with an unloader for a railroadboxcar,

means for removing inner wood plank or reinforced paper doors on theboxcar having rectangular plate means and retractable cutting meansoperable in removing reinforced paper doors, said rectangular platemeans having holding means thereon to hold the grain door incident itsremoval from the boxcar door frame, said retractable cutting meanscomprising a cutting blade located on one side of and extendingsubstantially the full length of said rectangular plate means,

and retracting means for moving said retractable cutting means from anoperable cutting position for opening paper reinforced doors to aninoperative position wherein said cutting means is retracted and saidplate means is operable to remove wood plank inner doors.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said holding means comprises aseries of spikes on the face of said rectangular plate means.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said cutting blade is carried by avertical shaft rotatably supported on said rectangular plate means,

said retracting means comprising a driving element for said verticalshaft to rotate said vertical shaft and move said cutting blade from anoperable cutting position wherein said blade is perpendicular to theface of said rectangular plate means and extend beyond said face, to aninoperative position wherein said blade lies behind said face. 4. Adevice for opening inner wooden or reinforced paper doors of railroadboxcars filled with particulate material comprising:

rectangular plate means and retractable cutting means combinedtherewith, said rectangular plate means having holding means thereon tohold wooden inner boxcar doors incident their removal from the boxcardoor frame, said retractable cutting means comprising a cutting bladelocated on one side of and extending substantially the full length ofsaid rectangular plate means,

and retracting means for moving said retractable cutting means from anoperable cutting position for opening paper reinforced doors to aninoperative position where said cutting blades are retracted and saidplate means is operable to remove wood plank grain doors.

5. The device as recited in claim 4 wherein said holding means comprisesa series of spikes on the face of said rectangular plate means andwherein said cutting blade is carried on a vertical shaft,

said retracting means comprising a driving element for said verticalshaft to rotate said vertical shaft and move said cutting blade from anoperable cutting position wherein said blade is perpendicular to theface of said rectangular pl-ate means and extends beyond said face to aninoperative position wherein said blade lies behind said face.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,819,974 8/1931 Richardson254-84 2,927,770 3/1960 Erickson et al 214-54 X 3,073,463 1/1963 Addicks214-44 WILLIAM S. LAWSON, Primary Examiner.

